Posts Tagged ‘dawood ibrahim’

S Balakrishnan | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; December 8, 2009)

Mumbai: Film producer Ravi Kapoor has received a threat from gangster Ravi Pujari for ‘allegedly’ showing his wife in an objectionable manner in his forthcoming film.

Kapoor has produced a film—World Cupp 2011—which seeks to expose cricket matchfixing and the role of the underworld. One of the scenes shows Pujari’s wife consuming liquor and laying bets on a match. Kapoor said he received a call from the elusive Pujari who abused and threatened him. He wanted all references to his wife to be deleted from the movie, failing which he threatened to eliminate Kapoor.

“My maiden movie is based on real-life incidents and it is shocking that the underworld is now censoring Hindi movies,’’ Kapoor said on Monday. “Luckily, I recorded the telephone conversation so I have proof of the threat. I have complained to the crime branch,’’ he added. Pujari is based in an undisclosed foreign location from where he is conducting his operations, said sources. He was earlier with Chhota Rajan, but is on his own now. He has, in the past, targeted director Mahesh Bhatt and noted criminal lawyer Majid Memon.

The film uses the original names of gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan, Ravi Pujari, Chhota Shakeel et al. It also deals with Pujari’s attempt on the life of Bhatt.

“I will reveal the real reason for Ravi Pujari’s boys opening fire on Bhatt. I will also show why Chhota Rajan had attacked drug dealer Amjad Quereshi. I have openly taken the names of underworld figures who are implicated in match-fixing rackets because I want people to know the truth about cricket’’ Kapoor said. Kapoor said he has directed the film himself “as no other director was ready to take up this assignment.’’ He has also referred to big bookies like Shobhan Mehta, Laxmi Thane et al by their original names in the film, which is due for release on December 18.

Gangster Ravi Pujari’s men ransack UTV’s Bangalore office and leave a chilling warning for its boss

By Bangalore Mirror Bureau (July 14, 2009)

Ronnie Screwvala

Bangalore police are alarmed by an attack on a private TV channel’s office by six armed men who wanted to know the whereabouts of the company’s owner. The men claimed to be gangster Ravi Pujari’s associates.

Screwvala is a big name in the TV and film industry. His company runs several channels and also produces films one of which was ‘Rang De Basanti’.

On Saturday, six persons barged into the UTV office on CMH Road at Indiranagar around 5 pm. Security guard Sathish and a job-seeker, Jamad, were in the office. Brandishing a pistol, one of the gangsters asked Sathish the whereabouts of Screwvala. When Sathish pleaded ignorance, the six broke windows and assaulted Jamad with a pistol butt.

According to the police, the attackers warned of ‘serious action against Ronnie if he continued to support Dawood’.

The gang handed a letter to Sathish that read ‘Last warning – contact Ravi Pujari’. It mentioned an international telephone number.

Six men asked the security guard about Screwvala’s whereabouts. When he pleaded ignorance, they broke windows and assaulted a job-seeker

Pujari men target UTV office

Sources said Pujari’s gang had called up UTV’s office in Mumbai too and left a similar message.

Pujari is wanted in Bangalore in several cases of extortion. “We keep getting complaints of such calls. Some are made from Bangalore, but using international calling cards of different countries to camouflage the origin of the call. It is difficult to trace such calls. Some calls are made using Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which also cannot be traced,” said a police officer.

In Mumbai, Screwvala could not be reached for his comments, but Deven Khote, founder-member and director of UTV, said, “I have no idea about the incident.”

Additional Commissioner (Crime) Deven Bharti said, “I am not in Mumbai. I have no idea about this incident. I will check.”

WHO IS RAVI PUJARI

Ravi Pujari

Ravi Pujari started his criminal career at Andheri. He is a school dropout, but speaks English, Hindi and Kannada. He was a small-time criminal till he killed Bala Zalte, a rival. He joined gangster Chhota Rajan who took a liking to him.

He moved to Dubai in the late 1990s and extorted from builders and hoteliers. They parted ways after Dawood Ibrahim made an attempt on Rajan’s life in Bangkok, Thailand in 2000.

Pujari is believed to be hiding in Australia now. He often calls up the police claiming to have targeted people close to Dawood or his aide Chhota Shakeel.